


Weekend Reads

by Knownobound



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Libraries, M/M, Parent!lock, Parentlock, Raising a Child, guys dont worry sherlock isn't dead, john as a single dad, john had a past husband
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 20:27:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1098258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knownobound/pseuds/Knownobound
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>mourn  [mawrn, mohrn]<br/>verb (used without object)<br/>1. to feel or express sorrow or grief.<br/>2. to grieve or lament for the dead.<br/>3. to show the conventional or usual signs of sorrow over a person's death.</p>
<p>John loved him. He knew it would take more than three years to want to move on. But he knew he had to. He had to take care of Hamish, he had to move on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Weekend Reads

John looks in the rearview mirror. His little boy sits in the car seat, peering out the window. Yellow streetlamp light fills his face as they pass each one. Although it is a little past 5 in the evening the sky is dark, with no help from the gray clouds overhead. The windshield wipers thud every so often, creating a soft rhythm in the car.

“Daddy?”

“Hmm?” He looks back into the mirror to glance at his son.

“Can we have pizza for dinner?”

“Well I don’t know,” John says with a smile, flicking on the blinker before turning onto a side road. “You’ll have to ask Aunt Harry when we get home.”

“But this isn’t home. Why aren’t we going home?” Hamish pushes himself up on the arms of his car seat to try to get a better view through the misty rain. John pulls into a parking spot and turns the car off.

“No we’re at the library, it’s Friday,” John reminds him, unbuckling himself and turning in his seat. “You remember what Friday means right?” Hamish drops back into his seat, excitement spreading across his face.

“We get books for the weekend?” He asks as if the plan for the last year had suddenly changed, and he did not want to be wrong.

“Exactly,” John replies smiling. He gets out of the car and opens the back door to get Hamish out of the car seat. The rain has let up, but as he leans into the car his jacket still collects some water. Once Hamish is unbuckled he crawls into John’s arms and wraps his small limbs around his neck. John closes the door with his side and heads for the entrance. Once he gets to the library doors, a women leaving holds them open for him. He thanks her with a slight smile and nod. He feels the women’s eyes on him as he enters the building, but John had gotten used to that. After he started leaving the house more, he would take Hamish with him. Just to get out of the big apartment, now only filled with the sounds of two. Women paid more attention to him now than before, even if he had a clingy toddler attached to him.

Setting Hamish down, John scans a shelf of DVD’s that were by the doors. He turns the rack around, looking for a movie they could all watch together. It had been almost three years since they last watched a movie together, as a family. He doesn’t remember the movie exactly but, he does remember the night. Victor had picked up a movie on his way home from work as a surprise. “A family movie night,” he said. Victor was always the one to bring home surprises for Hamish, even sometimes John.

As soon as Hamish heard him come home, he jumped up from his coloring that was spread across the floor and ran towards the door. Victor kept his hands behind his back and squatted down to Hamish’s level. “Pick a hand,” he said, and Hamish picked one. Even though he picked the wrong one, Victor give him the new movie and smiled as he watched his son fill with excitement. Hamish then ran off, right past John, to go play. John laughed at him as he ran past, walking towards his husband.

“Glad you’re home,” John said, resting his head on Victor’s shoulder. He was taller than John, only by about six inches, with neatly trimmed black hair and tan skin. “What did you bring him?” John asked, peaking his head around the wall to look for their son.

“Some movie about dragons,” Victor laughed. “I figured we could watch it together. We haven’t had a family night in a while.”

“Sounds great. I’ll go make some popcorn then.”

“I brought you something too, you know?”

Hearing this, John raised an eyebrow and looked up at his husband. “Really now?” He laughed. Victor moved his hand from behind his back to his front.

“ _Para mi marido maravilloso_ ,” Victor smiled as he presented the bundle of roses wrapped in paper to John. He took them, the paper crinkling as he looked at the flowers.

“Did you lose one?” John laughingly asked. Victor raised an eyebrow at this. John laughed and continued. “There are only 11 flowers. Flowers come in a dozen.”

“I’m surprised you never asked before now. I’ve never given you an even number of flowers. Its bad luck, you know?”

“I guess I’m slow to catch on. But, what did you do with the other one?”

“Left it at the store,” Victor laughed.

John feels a small tug on his hand, pulling him away from the sweet memory.

“Come help me make a craft!” Hamish loudly whispers. _Well at least he’s trying to be quiet_ , John thinks as he follows Hamish to the craft table. He sets Hamish in a small wooden chair and pushes him next to the table. He takes a strip of construction paper from the bin and a pair of safety scissors and sets them in front of Hamish.

“Try to make a hat like this one, okay?” John says showing his son the example they set out on the table. Hamish nods while he scribbles on the construction paper. “I’ll be right over here, I’m going to look for some books.” John walks around the shelves that hold picture books. He knows Hamish should start reading more “advanced” books but, Hamish enjoys reading the picture books. John leans down and picks a few off the bottom shelf. He walks around the corner to check on Hamish. Hamish is still sitting in his chair, which is a plus, but he is cutting the example up with the scissors. “Oh Hamish no no no,” John says as he puts the books on the table and takes the pre-made hat out of Hamish’s hands. “This is what you’re supposed to make. Not cut up,” John sighs. “Why don’t you go play with a puzzle and I’ll make you a hat, okay?”

Hamish runs off to the little round table with sorting games and puzzles that are set out for the children. John takes a few blue pre-cut triangles and glues them on the strip of construction paper to make a set of teeth. He takes a crayon and draws goo dripping off the cartoonish teeth and draws eye holes above the mouth. He glues both ends of the strip together to make a band. John walks to the next table where Hamish is matching items to their correct shape. John sits in one of the small wooden chairs and puts the mask on Hamish. It was twice the size of his head so it hung forward and rested on his shoulders.

“Terrifying,” John laughs and adjusts the mask.

“Daddy,” Hamish says as he pushes the mask off. “Dad can we get pizza for dinner?” The mask falls to the floor but John picks it up and puts it on the table.

“I told you earlier, you’ll have to ask Aunt Harry if you can have pizza.”

“But can’t you get it?”

“No, I’m going to see a movie tonight. Remember?” John asks with a weak smile.

“Can I come? We can get pizza afterwards then!”

“It’s a grown up movie, so you can’t go,” John notices the disappointment on Hamish’s face. “How about tomorrow, you and I go see a movie and get pizza afterwards?” Hamish’s sad expression washes away as he smiles and nods. John feels like a liar towards his son. He’s not lying though. He is seeing a movie later tonight. He just did not mention that it would be with a guy from work. Nick had asked John out a few days before. John isn’t even all that interested, he just felt bad saying no. He figured he could handle one date. Just one night out with a guy from work. Nothing big. Although Harry still decided to make it into a big event. “It’s been three years John. He would want you to move on.”

“Hey, how about you go pick a few more books off the shelf and then we’ll go, okay?” Hamish pushed the puzzle away from him and went towards the bookshelves. John went back to the movies by the door for something to surprise Hamish with. John figures if he gets Hamish a movie he’ll fall asleep better without him being there. He spins the rack around a few times and picks one: _Brave_. John heard a few mothers at work talking about it, all of the comments he heard were positive, so he adds it to the stack of books in his arms. John looks at the clock on the far wall. _5:37. We really should be heading home_ , John thinks. _I shouldn’t be late for my date. Date? No, movie. Just a movie with a bloke from work. A meeting. No, not a meeting. Just a movie. It’s just a movie._ He walks back towards the children’s section to find Hamish. He goes down the first few aisles with no luck. But as he’s walking to the next he sees Hamish wearing his mask, arms raised and ‘’ggrring” at a man.

“Oh god,” John says as he quickly jogs over to Hamish. “What are you doing?” John asks, not sure if he should laugh or be embarrassed.

Hamish pulls off the mask and climbs into John’s arms. “I’m being scary daddy!”

“I can see that,” John says, readjusting the books and Hamish in his arms. “I’m so sorry about that I only left him alone for a few minutes,” John tries to apologize more but he only stammers. The other man makes him feel smaller, despite John being a foot shorter. It might be his long dark coat, the collar touching his cheekbones. Or the way he stands, back straight, both hands held behind his back. It might even be his dark hair, or his eyes that seem to change color each time he shifts his head. “So, what kind of book are you looking for?”

“Harry Potter. It’s for my niece. My brother and his husband are going out on a second honeymoon, most likely to try to salvage their marriage, so Lilly is staying with me for the weekend.”

“Oh uh. Okay. But uh those books will be on that second shelf from the wall. How old is she?”

“Seven. Her father thinks that reading to her my study of the different types of tobacco ash is too boring for her. So he sent me here to find reading material that would be more, age appropriate.”

“How many types of tobacco ash are there anyway?” The other man looks at John, expecting ridicule from him. When none appears, he answers.

“Two-hundred forty-three,” he says adjusting his coat.

“Wow really? Interesting. Oh, John Watson, by the way,” John says as he places the books on top of a shelf and extends his hand, with Hamish still on his hip. The other man extends a gloved hand in return.

“Sherlock Holmes,” he says with a soft smile.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure how long this fic will be, in all honesty. If you want to give me advice, ideas or want to help co-author this or future works, send me a message on Tumblr! I love to hear from you guys!


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